Production of tufted fabrics



Jan. 1966 J. RIDYARD ETAL 3,229,652 PRODUCTION OF TUFTED FABRICS Filed Jan. 20, 1964 I :s Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS Jcmv Fwy/QR 5y N R/MN LOIS/M ,4T7'ORNEYS Jan. 18, 1966 RlDYARD ETAL 3,229,652

i PRODUCTION OF TUFTED FABRICS Filed Jan. 20. 1964 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fz'yZ o NVENTORS d rm ID mu y Nogmm/ UIBNALL 2 yum v ATTORNEYS 1955 J. RIDYARD ETAL 3,

PRODUCTION OF TUFTED FABRICS Filed Jan. 20, 1964 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTORS dofim fiz'diwzml Wazwzm M/zjrza/J BY a a,

ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,229,652 PRODUCTION OF TUFTED FABRICS John Ridyard, S64 Bradshaw Road, Bolton, Lancashire, England, and Norman Wignall, 23 Winmarleigh St, Blackburn, Lancashire, England Filed Jan. 20, 1964, Ser. No. 338,641 3 Claims. (Cl. 112-79) This invention relates to the production of tufted pile fabrics, and has for its object to provide a method and apparatus for furnishing a base fabric with tufted pile loops on both sides of the fabric at the same time.

It is known to form rows of tufts on one face only of a base fabric by passing pile yarns through the fabric from that one side, the yarns being held by looper hooks at the other side of the fabric as the needles withdraw, and then being released from the loopers with or without cutting according to whether a cut pile or a loop pile is wanted. It is also known to form rows of tufts on one side only of a fabric by passing the yarns down hollow needles which pierce the fabric from that one side yarn being held by friction with the fabric to form loops as the needles withdraw.

According to the present invention, successive rows of pile loops are formed simultaneously on opposite sides of a base fabric by projecting threads through the base fabric from opposite sides thereof by means of rows of needles disposed one on each side of the base fabric.

The apparatus according to the invention comprises means for moving a base fabric through the apparatus, a row of needles on each side of the fabric, means for feeding threads to the needles of each row and means for reciprocating the rows of needles so as to project the threads through the fabric from opposite sides thereof, the needles of each row leaving loops on the side remote from that at which they entered the fabric.

In one arrangement the needles of such row may be carried by a neddle bar, adapted to be reciprocated by eccentric supports, or by rocking levers acting upon the bars. The two rows of needles may be and preferably will be disposed one behind the other in the direction of travel of the base fabric. Conveniently both needle bars are mounted on rocking levers and an oscillatory movement is imparted to said levers from eccentrics on a common drive shaft.

The needles may be hollow, with the threads passing through the interior thereof and out at the tip, the needles having chisel ends to facilitate the piercing of the fabric or, if desired, the yarn may pass through an eye at or near the point of the needle. Alternatively the needles may have grooves at their sides in which the threads can move. By these means loops can be formed without the necessity of using looper hooks on the opposite sides of the fabric to the rows of needles. The

height of the loops will depend on the rate at which yarn is fed to the needles and there may be means for varying this rate (several such means are known) to produce pile of different heights, e.g., as a pattern. One form of variable-rate thread feed means may comprise a number of feed rollers rotating at a constant speed over which the threads pass and a device for holding back individual threads or groups of threads as required so that slip occurs between the feed rollers and the threads which are held back, whereby those threads are fed at a lower rate than the other threads. The device for holding back the threads may comprise an idler roller having grooves for individual threads, and a drum fitted with projections in accordance with a desired pattern for depressing spring loaded arms having brake pads adapted to enter the grooves and press on the threads thereon.

3,229,652 Patented Jan. 18, 1966 Alternatively, and where hollow needles are used, the length of the pile may be varied by providing for each needle a reciprocating wedge member or retainer which, if advanced will enter the loop formed by the withdrawing needle, and hold such loop to maintain it at full height, whereas if the wedge member is not advanced the loop becomes shortened to about half full height, its length then being determined by the frictional grip of the base fabric on the yarn.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a cross section through a tufting machine for producing tufts simultaneously on two sides of a base fabric;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic sectional view showing one means of varying the size of the loops when hollow needles are used; and

FIG. 3 is a partial trasnverse section on line 33 of FIG. 1 showing the relation of the needles on each bar.

Referring first to FIG. 1, the machine has two end frames or stands, of which one only is shown at 1, these having facets or webs 2 at the foot by which they may be secured to a suitable foundation. These end stands are connected together by a box-sectioned top member 3 and by two angle sectioned beams or bed-plates 4 and 5,

such beams having webs directed towards each other in planes to form upper and lower guides mutually parallel for the base fabric 6. That is to say, and as shown in FIG. 1, the base fabric passes over the top inclined face of the beam 4 and below the bottom inclined face of the beam 5. Each beam has the free edge of its fabric-guiding limb furnished with prongs or fingers 4a and 5a respectively, similarly to the pronged needle plate of known tufting machines, the needles (as described below) passing between the prongs of the respective beams.

Mounted in the box-sectioned part 3 is a top shaft 7 on which, at spaced points along the machine, are mounted eccentrics 8 the straps 9 of which are connected to adjustable thrust rods 10. Below the beam 4 is a needlerocker-shaft 11 which carries a number of radial arms 12 which, in turn, carry a needle bar 13 provided with a row of needles 14. Similarly, above the beam 5 is a further needle-rocker-shaft 15 carrying a like number of radial arms 16 to which is attached a needle bar 17 furnished with a row of needles 18. Also on the shaft 11 are spaced slotted lever arms 19 in the slots 20 of which are fixed the ends of alternate thrust rods 10 similarly, on the shaft shaft 15 are lever arms 21 whose free ends are pivotally connected to intermediate thrust rods 10. It will be understood that there will be a plurality of radial arms 12 and 16 along the length of the machine, these preferably being in staggered relationship with alternate levers :12 connected to alternate thrust members 10 and inter-mediate levers 16 connected to the intermediate thrust members 10.

The advancing movement of the backing fabric through the machine is usually a continuous movement caused by the rotation of spiked rollers, for example the rollers 30 and 31, but in some cases however it could be a stepwise movement. If this last was desired, the advance of the backing fabric would be arranged to take place only when the needles are withdrawn from it. Any known means may be used for tensioning the backing fabric.

Top shaft 7 is driven by a motor 22 situated in the lower part of the machine, the drive being by gears 23 and 24 and a chain or belt 25. Any other suitable drive transmission arrangement could of course be adopted instead of that shown.

On the top of the machine, there are stands 2'6 for a supply roll 27 of the backing c-loth, this cloth after leaving the roll first passing over a guide roll 28, then down one side of the machine and over the guiding and tensioning rollers 29 and 30, then through the stitching zone, above and below the beams 4 and 5, around the further guiding and tensioning rollers 31, 3'2 and finally to a plaiting or lapping zone at 33. The details of the mechanism for handling the base fabric and the finished fabric are not shown, as these are well knownin the art.

Secured to the outer ends of the boxrshaped member 3 are horizontal supports 34 for yarn guiding and tensioning rollers 35. Two supplies of yarns are used in the machine these coming from suitable beams or creels (not shown) one supply being delivered through the guide tubes 36, around the adjacent rollers 35 and through the guide eyes 37 and 38 to the needles 14 of the lower needle bar 13. The other supply of yarn comes from the guide tubes 39, around the appropriate guiding and tensioning rollers 35 and through the guide eyes 40 and 41 to the needles 1 8 of the upper needle bar 17.

In operation as the top shaft 7 is rotated by the drive from the motor 22, the thrust members reciprocate and thereby rock the needle rocker arms 12 and 16 with their respective shafts 11 and 15, thus causing the needles to pierce the backing fabric from opposite sides and pass be tween the prongs 4a, 5a' of the respective needle plate once in each revolution of the top shaft. As is known in the tu-fting art, the needles carry the yarn through the backing fabric and, as they then begin to retract the friction ofthe fabric on the yarn tends to form a loop, similar to sewing machine practice. These loop-smay be arranged to. be held if a full depth of pile is required, or they may beallowed to contract somewhat if a less than full depth pile is required. In this connection, any of the known drawing 'back arrangememnts for providing high and low pile may be adopted, the general principle being that if the amount of yarn fed to a descending needle is insufficient to accommodate a full penetration movement of the needle the resulting tension in the yarn robs yarn from the loop in the previously made row and thus shortens the loops in that previously made row.

It will be clear from the above description that two rows of loops are made simultaneously in'each rotation cycle of the stitching mechanism, one positioned in advance of the other and each on the opposite side of the fabric to the other, so that the finished fabric has rows of tufts on both sides with the rows on one side staggered relatively to those on the other side. The rows will be sufficiently close together (this will be governed by the rate offeed-oftthe backing fabric through the machine) so that the tufts in rows on each side will hide the backstitching between the rows of tufts on the other side.

Referring now to the arrangement illustrated in FIG. 2, which is more or less diagrammatic, the hollow needle 42 has yarn 43 emerging from its chiselled lower end and, for each needle there is a reciprocating retaining wedge 44, this being held on the end of a thrust rod 45 between which and a fixed abutment 46 is a toggle 47 biased to the broken position shown by a tension spring 48. The toggle is adapted to be made by a solenoid 49 to advance the wedge 44 into the yarn loop. The selective energising of the solenoids is controlled by a contoured pattern on the surface of a rotating drum 49, this pattern being sensed by levers 50, one for each needle to make or not to make connection at the electrical. contacts 51 in the circuit of the solenoid coil.

If a solenoid is energised then the rod 45 is advanced and the wedge enters the loop formed by the needle, so as to retain that loop at full height as the needle retracts as shown. If the solenoid is not energised the wedge 44 remains in a withdrawn position and therefore as the needle 42 returns through the backing fabric some of the yarn is taken with it, thus shortening the loop, as shown at 5 2.

Any suitable pattern control means may be selected for effecting the selective advance movements of the wedges 44. These could be controlled by electro-magnets by cams or otherwise as is well known in the tufting art.

Whilst in the drawing the bed plates have inclined Working surfaces and the fabric travels from top to bottom in the machine, any other disposition of these parts may be designed including horizontal bed plates with the fabric moving horizontally.

What we claim is:

1. A multi-needle tufting machine comprising advancing means for moving a base fabric in one direction, a first needle bar arranged on one side of the web transversely to its direction of movement, a first set of needles carried by the first needle bar, first moving means connected to the first needle bar and operative to cause the first set of needles to penetrate the base fabric, a first fixed needle plate on the side of the base fabric opposite the said first needle bar, said first needle plate supporting the fabric when the first set of needles penetrate the fabric and having openings through which the said needles may pass when they penetrate the fabric, a second needle bar arranged on the side of the base fabric opposite to the first needle bar, said second needle bar being spaced. from the first needle bar in the direction of movement of the base fabric and being located transversely to the said direction, a second set of needles carried by the second needle bar, second moving means connected to the second needle bar and operative to cause the second set of needles to penetrate the base fabric, and a second fixed. needle plate on the side of the base fabric opposite the second needle bar, said second needle plate supporting the fabric when the second set of needles penetrate the fabric and having openings through which the said needles may pass when they penetrate the fabric, the corresponding needles in each set defining a needle pair, each of said needles of each pair being spaced in the direction of web travel and operating in a common plane.

2. A multi-needle tufting machine as set forth in claim 1 wherein the first and second moving means comprise crank means connected respectively to the needle bars.

3. A multi-needle tufting machine as set forth in claim 2 further comprising a common power supply incorporating a drive mechanism that includes a pair of eccentrics connected respectively to the crank means.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,070,287 2/1937 Loos 112-79' 2,759,443 8/ 1956 Hunt 11279' 2,827,865 3/ 1958 Felton 1l279' 2,842,080 7/ 1958 Hoeselbarth 112-79.6 2,860,588 11/1958 Penman 112-796 2,987,019 6/ 1961 Felton 112-79' 3,089,412 5/1963 Short 11279 FOREIGN PATENTS 534,168 2/ 1941 Great Britain. 845,900 8/ 1960 Great Britain.

FRANK J. COHEN, Primary Examiner.

JORDAN FRANKLIN, M. J. COLITZ,

Assistant Examiners. 

1. A MULTI-NEEDLE TUFTING MACHINE COMPRISING ADVANCING MEANS FROM MOVING A GASE FABRIC IN ONE DIRECTION, A FIRST NEEDLE BAR ARRANGED ON ONE SIDE OF THE WEB TRANSVERSELY TO ITS DIRECTION OF MOVEMENT, A FIRST SET OF NEEDLES CARRIED BY THE FIRST NEEDLE BAR, FIRST MOVING MEANS CONNECTED TO THE FIRST NEEDLE BAR AND OPERATIVE TO CAUSE THE FIRST SET OF NEEDLES TO PENETRATE THE BASE FABRIC, A FIRST FIXED NEEDLE PLATE ON THE SIDE OF THE BASE FABRIC OPPOSITE THE SAID FIRST NEEDLE BAR, SAID FIRST NEEDLE PLATE SUPPORTING THE FABRIC WHEN THE FIRST SET OF NEEDLES PENETRATE THE FABRIC AND HAVING OPENINGS THROUGH WHICH THE SAID NEEDLES MAY PASS WHEN THEY PENETRATE THE FABRIC, A SECOND NEEDLE BAR ARRANGED ON THE SIDE OF THE BASE FABRIC OPPOSITE TO THE FIRST NEEDLE BAR, SAID SECOND NEEDLE BAR BEING SPACED FROM THE FIRST NEEDLE BAR IN THE DIRECTION OF MOVEMENT OF THE BASE FABRIC AND BEING LOCATED TRANVERSELY TO THE SAID DIRECTION, A SECOND SET OF NEEDLES CARRIED BY THE SECOND NEEDLE BAR, SECOND MOVING MEANS CONNECTED TO THE SECOND NEEDLE BAR AND OPERATIVE TO CAUSE THE SECOND SET OF NEEDLES TO PENETRATE THE BASE FABRIC, AND A SECOND FIXED NEEDLE PLATE ON THE SIDE OF THE BASE FABRIC OPPOSITE THE SECOND NEEDLE BAR, SAID SECONE NEEDLE PLATE SUPPORTING THE FABRIC WHEN THE SECOND SET OF NEEDLES PENETRATE THE FABRIC AND HAVING OPENINGS THROUGH WHICH THE SAID NEEDLES MAY PASS WHEN THEY PENETRATE THE FABRIC, THE CORRESPONDING MEEDLES IN EACH SET DEFINING A NEEDLE PAIR, EACH OF SAID NEEDLES OF EACH PAIR BEING SPACED IN THE DIRECTION OF WEB TRAVEL AND OPERATING IN A COMMON PLANE. 